Modern Warfare 3 seeks sales record

Early indications suggest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 could be on track to break Black Ops' five-day opening sales record. Meanwhile, the tabloids are full of a Twitter war between Joey Barton and the TOWIE cast initiated at the game's London launch party

The queue outside GAME's Oxford Street store in London for the midnight launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Photograph: Michael Bowles/BBZ

And … exhale. Relaxation is possible once again now that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is in the shops, but it continues to hog the media spotlight.

At least, following the razzmatazz of the launch, we concentrate on weightier matters, such as whether it will break the entertainment industry's five-day opening sales revenue record, held by last year's iteration of the game, Black Ops, which stands at a staggering $650m worldwide.

Early indications suggest Modern Warfare 3 has a good chance of doing so. Amazon has announced that it generated 32 per cent more pre-orders than Black Ops, and retailers GAME and gamestation stated that Modern Warfare 3 is the most pre-ordered game in their history.

Liz Hosmer, video game manager at Amazon.co.uk, said: "The Call of Duty series has performed consistently well, with both Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2 previously holding the all-time pre-order record. This year has seen the release of a raft of great titles with Battlefield 3 anticipated as a strong contender to Modern Warfare 3, but the latest offering in the Call of Duty series is the most popular title of the year to date by some distance."

GAME spokeswoman Anna-Marie Mason said: "Beating records set by last year's number one game, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Modern Warfare 3 is now GAME Group's largest pre-order title in the company's history."

Launching with a splash

The Modern Warfare 3 launch party at London's Old Billingsgate Market was a huge and celebrity-studded affair. Compered by broadcaster and writer Danny Wallace, the night also saw Example playing live and Chase & Status on the decks. Notable game fans in attendance included footballers Ashley Cole and Anton Ferdinand, musicians Tinie Tempah and Labrinth and cricketer Graeme Swann.

Various X-Factor types and what seemed like the entire cast of The Only Way is Essex were much in evidence. Julia Hardy from Ginx TV collared the cream of the night's celebs on the green carpet – you can watch her efforts below.

Also unmissable was the Twittersphere's favourite attention-seeker, footballer Joey Barton, who represented the UK (badly) in a live multiplayer MW3 game against other celebs attending launches of the game around Europe. And then got stuck into a Twitter-war with the TOWIE cast, while still at the party, providing today's tabloids with pages of material.

Among his choice efforts was: "I actually despise the whole of that firm, mentally deficient, turn up at the opening of an envelope, fame hungry, prized ball bags." He also described the night's assortment of celebrities as a "whose [sic] who of bellends", the show's cast as "like a Circus freak show … u've got midgets, hippos, about 6 with red rums teeth in and a corpse holding a sign," and James "Arg" Argent's teeth as: "Like a burnt down fence." The TOWIE cast retaliated by assembling for a group picture mocking the size of Barton's manhood.

Queuing at midnight

We opted to shun the celebrity bearpit with the party in full swing in order to seek real, dedicated Call of Duty gamers at the Oxford Street branch of GAME's midnight opening.

We spoke to Jamie and Jack, members of the Lead Over Love gaming clan who had been queuing outside GAME for two and a half days. Jamie said: "We are passionate about the game – we're not here for no reason. We co-run a professional gaming team."

He was also full of praise for Activision's Call of Duty: Elite social gaming service. "Elite is going to bring together all the CoD-lovers out there. This finally lets them face each other, create a proper clan and have a place where they can come together."

The crowd was entertained by actors dressed as soldiers abseiling down the side of the building, and the midnight sales crush felt like a definitive affirmation of the consumer-centricity of 21st century society.

Now that the most dedicated Call of Duty players have bought their yearly fix, all that remains is for them to make a dignified withdrawal from society, and retailer gamestation has decided to chip in with some assistance on that front. Its Facebook page has a list of text messages that can be sent in as excuses for non-attendance at work ("A mine has just exploded in my back yard, will text you back once sorted"), and it constructed a special website dispensing advice on how best to pull a sickie (the most believable illnesses apparently – bosses take note – being food-poisoning, migraines and throat infections).

The country has truly gone Call of Duty mad, as it always does at this time of year.